GOOGLE GEARS
What is Google Gears?
Google gears is an open-source browser plug-in that enables its users to access web pages while offline. This might be the backup plan (or “Plan B”) that businesses have been waiting for.
What is Open-Source?
By creating an open-source software application, Google is hoping that the information-technology community will take this program and run with it. An open-source program has no restrictions as to who can access the coding of the files, resultantly allowing anyone to rewrite the code and attempt to improve (or worsen) the program.
Benefits and Drawbacks to Organizations
Program Direction
Google has noted this as an important step in the evolution of web applications because it responds to the needs of accessing data when there is no available Internet connection.
Long-term hopes of the Gears program are to assist the industry as a whole toward a single standard that all developers are able to use for offline capabilities. If many web browsers are able to capitalize on the offline potential of Google Gears, it is likely that we will see many innovations in the technology sector that don’t require an internet connection.
“We believe strongly in the power of the community to stretch this new technology to the limits of what’s possible and ultimately emerge with an open standard that benefits everyone.”
Eric Schmidt – Google CEO
Viability
Picture the head of a company on a business trip but stuck without an internet connection. Google Gears will allow him to access his emails and any other pertinent websites to keep him updated. With Google Gears, firms can ensure that their important websites are available even without an internet connection.
Web-based Program Responses
Google Reader has updated their program to include a function where you tell the program that you are going offline and it automatically fills your computer with the last 2000 messages received, so as to give you the option of working without a connection.
Other applications such as Zoho Writer (an online word processor) are capitalizing on Google Gears. Users now have the ability to access and edit their documents while offline. When an internet connection is reconnected, all updates and data are stored online to prevent the loss of information in the event of a hard-drive crash.
Drawbacks
Google Gears is a new program and with every new application there are issues surrounding it. The version of the program currently released is just an early-access developer’s release and cannot necessarily be relied upon. While in the long run, it will be beneficial to the application that it is open-source, as of now, not enough developers have expanded on it and there are still many kinks waiting to be found.
While Google Gears only satisfies a small niche in the market, this is a niche that many companies are regarding as extremely important. It can be assumed that many companies will be jumping on the offline capabilities of Google Gears once the touch-ups on the program are complete.
References Cited
Google Blogoscoped, “Google Gears Released,”
Available at: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-05-31-n54.html
Google Press Centre, “Google Launches Gears Open Source Project to Bring Offline Capabilities to Web Applications,”
Available at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/gears_20070530.html
Search Engine Roundtable, “A Look at Google Gears Working with Google Reader,”
Available at: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/013657.html
Tech Crunch, “Google Gears Lets Developers Take Apps Offline,”
Available at: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/30/google-gears-lets-developers-take-apps-offline/
Zoho Blogs, “Offline Support and Comments in Zoho Writer,”
Available at: http://blogs.zoho.com/general/offline-support-comments-in-zoho-writer/
